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Judge Robert Brown imposed a five year jail sentence, to run consecutively to the seven years he is already serving for unrelated burglaries, motoring and other offences – making a total of 12 years.

The girl's mother was found guilty of child neglect, by failing to report to the police what she had told her about what happened to her in the tent. The mum has yet to be sentenced.

What the prosecution said

Richard Thatcher, prosecuting, said that a victim impact report on the child, now being cared for by relatives, revealed the abuse had affected her school work.

She has been suffering from nightmares.

The drama unfolded at Leicester Crown Court

He said: “She is now wary of strangers and feels everyone is staring at her and knows what happened.

“She can’t concentrate at school.

“She becomes tearful and can get angry.”

What was said in mitigation

Before sentence was passed, the defendant’s barrister, Mr McDonald said: “He doesn’t accept the guilty verdicts by this jury.”

Mr McDonald said: “He’s a persistent offender of violence, dishonesty and road traffic offending and is a serial offender, but that is in a different category to this which is something that goes against every grain of what he’s stood for.

Judge Brown said that he had not realised, after the verdicts, the defendant had a blade.

He said: “I thought he had an outburst with his fists and the security staff overpowered and pretty much had him under control.”

Mr McDonald reminded the judge that he had left the court, while order in court was restored, adding: “He slashed his throat, I saw the marks across his throat and he did shed blood just outside the door of the dock."